When does Easter fall this year? Find out how the date is fixed, and test your knowledge of Easter traditions.

East Anglian Daily Times: Chicks are traditionally associated with Easter. Picture: SUE FOSTERChicks are traditionally associated with Easter. Picture: SUE FOSTER (Image: (c) copyright citizenside.com)

This year, Easter Day falls on Sunday, April 1. This means the four-day bank holiday weekend will run from Good Friday on March 30 to Easter Monday on April 2.

Most schools will this year break up for the Easter holidays on or around March 29, Maundy Thursday.

Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus on Easter Day, two days after Good Friday, when the Crucifixion is remembered.

But why does the date change each year? The answer is that it is a movable feast, based on calculations involving the lunar calendar.

In Western Christianity, this has been the case ever since AD 325. The First Council of Nicea, made up of Christian bishops, decided Easter should fall on first Sunday following the full moon after the spring equinox.

The very earliest date when Easter can fall is March 22 (the day after the spring equinox), while the latest possible date is April 25.

Easter traditions include hot cross buns, spiced sweet buns eaten on Good Friday to mark the end of Lent, and Easter eggs. which were traditionally coloured eggs but are now often made of chocolate. Eggs are a symbol of new life and as such are linked with the resurrection, and they are also a symbol of fertility.

Easter chicks and bunnies are also linked with the festival, because, like eggs, they are signs of new life and fertility. There was an old German tradition of the Easter Hare bringing eggs to the house, which led to the Easter Bunny tradition.

Another tradition is Easter bonnets, which stem from the practice of wearing new clothes at Easter, following the end of Lent. Bonnets were traditionally decorated with flowers and ribbons.